Christmas a reminder of
imprisoned Chinese Nobel laureate
Protesters demand Liu Xiaobo's
release even as Norway makes up with Beijing
KENJI KAWASE, Nikkei deputy
editor
Albert Ho Chun-yan, chairman of
the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movement in China,
third from right, and Lee Cheuk-yan, a longtime activist on human rights in
China, second from left, protested in Hong Kong on behalf of Liu Xiaobo and
other dissidents at the representative office of Beijing on Sunday. (Photo by
Kenji Kawase)
HONG KONG -- Christmas is a time
of joy for many, even in predominantly non-Christian regions in Asia as religious
connotations have been diluted over the years. Even in mainland China under
Communist Party control, Christmas is about shopping, dining, partying and
gathering with family and friends.
But seven years ago today,
Beijing Municipal No. 1 Intermediate People's Court handed down a sentence of
11 years imprisonment and two additional years of political rights deprivation
to activist Liu Xiaobo for "inciting subversion of state power."
Liu was awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize the following year, but his prize went uncollected in Norway, as he was
locked up behind bars and his wife Liu Xia was put under house arrest. This was
the first time since German journalist Carl von Ossietzky was blocked by the
Nazi regime in 1936 from going to the Nobel ceremony in Oslo that a winner had
gone unrepresented.
The awarding of the prize
infuriated the Chinese, resulting in a virtual cut off of official diplomatic
relations with Norway. There was a clear decline in exports of salmon, a major
product of the Scandinavian country, to mainland China. According to Norwegian
data, exports of whole salmon fell from over 1 million kilograms in December
2010 to around 315,000 kg in January 2011 and 75,000 kg in February.
On this Christmas Sunday in Hong
Kong, local activists and supporters of Liu Xiaobo marched to the official
representative office of the Beijing government to protest his continued
detention. Along with the release of the Nobel Peace laureate, demonstrators
demanded an immediate end to the house arrest of his wife and that of the
persecution of other dissidents, such as rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong, former
Wukan village chief Lin Zulian, Beijing-based activist Hu Shigen and others
detained just for speaking up.
Outside the main gate of the
representative office, the protesters posted portraits of dissidents and a
statement demanding the abolition of the laws that enable the Chinese
authorities to lock these dissidents up. However, the office was closed,
tightly guarded by police and no one came out to respond to the protesters.
Albert Ho Chun-yan, chairman of the
Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movement in China, told
reporters after the demonstration that even though China looks powerful on the
surface, "It appears to be so paranoid and so frightened in hearing
dissenting voices."
Locking up more and more
non-violent people asking for the recognition of basic rights indicates the
"inside is weak and maybe quite fragile," he said.
Liu Xiaobo, a literary critic,
poet, and a university lecturer, was not an armed terrorist. He was convicted
of masterminding and drafting a political manifesto, called Charter 08 in 2008.
The document, modeled after Charter 77 which was issued in 1977 in
communist-ruled Czechoslovakia by dissidents including playwright and later
president Vaclav Havel, called for the rule of law, respect for human rights,
and an end to one-party rule in China on the 60th anniversary of the
promulgation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
What Liu did was express his
views peacefully, which is supposed to be allowed under the Chinese
constitution. Article 35 clearly stipulates that citizens "enjoy freedom
of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession and of
demonstration," while Article 41 spells out that citizens "have the
right to criticize and make suggestions to any state organ or
functionary." As the Norwegian Nobel Committee wrote in the statement
awarding him the prize, Liu was "sentenced for the crime of speaking.
However, the seventh anniversary
of this event arrived this month just a few days after a surprise rapprochement
between Norway and China. During an unannounced visit by Norwegian Foreign
Minister Borge Brende to Beijing, the two governments on Dec. 19 announced a
normalization of bilateral relations which has been strained since the committee
in Oslo conferred the prize to Liu. Even though the committee is independent
from the Norwegian government, China had cut off official ties anyway.
The two government's joint
statement acknowledged the deterioration in the bilateral relationship had been
"due to the Nobel Peace Prize award and events connected to the
prize." It added, "The Norwegian side is fully conscious of the
position and concerns of the Chinese side and has worked actively to bring the
bilateral relations back to the right track."
The Norwegian part of the
statement also conceded that Oslo "fully respects China's development path
and social system" and highly commended its "historic and
unparalleled development that has taken place." While Norway went further
to please Beijing by reiterating "its commitment to the one-China
policy," there was no mention about the promotion of human rights and
democratic principles which is supposed to be "at the heart of Norwegian
foreign policy" according to the government's official website. After the
meeting with Brende in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that the
Norwegian side went through "profound self-examination on the cause of
ruining mutual trust," according to his ministry's official website.
Not only did Brende refrain from
talking about human rights and democratic principles in Beijing. His boss,
Prime Minister Erna Solberg, also did not touch upon these issues during her
presentation about the rapprochement to the Storting, or parliament, on Dec.
19.
She underlined that it was a
"major priority for my government" to normalize relations with
Beijing, and now that that has been done, the government would focus on opening
up "great opportunities for Norwegian industry." The prime minister
vowed to "immediately resume work on a bilateral free trade
agreement."
"This is
disappointing," said Lee Cheuk-yan, a long-time Hong Kong human rights
activist, about Norway's move.
"Other countries did not
speak up for Norway and finally what happened was Norway, in a way,
disappointedly surrendered to the bully of China." Talking to the Nikkei
Asian Review on Sunday, Lee lamented that Norway's move "is a very bad
signal to other countries which uphold human rights, because whoever is
speaking out for human rights will be.. punished by China."
Although this is seen as another
headwind for the human rights movement in China, Frances Eve, Hong Kong-based
researcher for the Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders, said that
"no one should ever apologize for honoring Liu Xiaobo's peaceful struggle
for fundamental human rights in China."
She told the NAR that "on
the seventh anniversary of the show trial that sent him to prison, it's
important for the international community to publicly challenge China over
human rights abuses." She further called on governments to stick to their
claims about the principles of human rights protection, that "their
silence and acquiescence to Xi Jinping's crackdown on civil society only
emboldens the Chinese leadership to continue its devastating policies."